AirZim banned from overflying Indian airspace

Harare: National airline Air Zimbabwe has been denied the right to pass through Indian airspace on its flights to Far Eastern destinations because the Parliament of Zimbabwe has not ratified an international air transport agreement signed with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), The Financial Gazette heard last week.
India has ratified the agreement, which was signed in Chicago on December 7 1944.
Transport and Communications Minister Chris Mushohwe last week pleaded with members of the House of Assembly to approve the agreement in order to allow the airline to fly over the Asian economic giant.
"The national airline needs to access the Far East by flying over India," Mushohwe told the House of Assembly shortly before the presentation of the $37.1 trillion supplementary budget to the House on Thursday.
India, together with Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and China, are some of the countries Zimbabwe had recently strengthened political and economic ties.
However, amid fierce resistance from Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislators who argued that debate on the matter be deferred to another time because they had not been given the chance to look at the agreement, acting Speaker of the House of Assembly, Kumbirai Kangai asked for a vote.
There were more "yes" votes than the "no" vote leading to the ratification of the agreement.
"We have not been given the paper that we are debating. Why do you want to force matters on us?" asked Muvisi Zvizwai, an MDC member of the House of Assembly.
12/09/07 Shame Makoshori/The Financial Gazette, Zimbabwe

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2007